User blog:Epikpie/The Great Gem Rush
The Great Gem Rush (Early May - Late May) was a period in PvP Island history which began in Early May, when gems were newly updated by TheSteelEagle within the ore veins in Riltak Island, MI. The news of gems brought (mostly by teleportation, although some had already been staying there for a while) some 50 gem-seekers (called "targets" as in "target practice," the common nickname given to easily assailable idiots standing still) to Riltak. While most of the newly arrived were high levels, the Gem Rush also attracted a handful from Katar Island, Vite Island, Bloxian Island, and even complete noobs to the game, who, admittedly, had no idea wtf they were doing. The effects of the Gem Rush were substantial. At first, loose amethysts could be practically picked up off the ground, and since there was no law regarding vein ownership near the ore clusters, a system of "staking claims" was developed. In mid-May, a gem-based economy slowly took prominence among the ore-based one that had been present before it, and gems were in high demand. A new gem-based economy exploded onto the stage to meet the demands of (and profit from) the miners. Roads and other towns were built throughout the new state, and demand only increased as the Fighter Robes came into regular service. By late May, people trod trails all across the island from the fort to the tower. The Great Gem Rush was a particularly violent period for the high-leveled player killers of Riltak. After the initial boom had ended, explicitly anti-killer guards, insults and the freaking Eggmental sought to drive away killers, especially "that d*ck IHAVEPIEYAY who keeps kililng me" and others on (or hoping to get onto) the leaderboard. The toll on miners, however, was just as severe: roughly one in two perished due to "that d*ck IHAVEPIEYAY" and other player-slaying PK seekers. While the total of gems recovered would be worth hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Gold today, eventually player-killing advances reached a point where significant protection was required in order to mine the gems, causing increasingly powerful high-levels to take over ore veins and leading to great wealth for a few. Many of those who had had to rely on simple protection methods, such as healing potions, returned back to spawn with only a little more than they had originally started with. A radical decrease in the newcomer population that had begun after the Easter era was exacerbated by the native high-level population influx and deadly conditions of the Gem Rush. Much of the reduction was due to random bouts between low levels, but some higher level (and even a few low levels too) natives openly advocated genocide against immigrant miners. IHAVEPIEYAY, popularly known as the demon of Riltak, declared that Riltak was a battleground between the gem seekers and the PK seekers and that there were only two options towards gem miners, extinction or removal. He gained funding for this mass murder from Riltak itself, which directly paid out up to 1,000 Gold in bounties for miner's scalps with varying prices for low-level, medium-level, and high-levels. This provided the basis for the service and guard protection of gem miners, particularly that of low-levels and medium-levels, which was carried on as a legal business enterprise. Player-killers, weapon-testers, and exp-crunchers formed PvP groups and casual treaties to hunt the miners, regularly raiding ore veins to supply the demand. The newcomer population of Riltak, once perhaps as high as 100 in numbers, by late May had already dwindled down to some 30 and further spiraled downward until by the end of May it had dipped below 10. The Great Glacial Rush The Great Glacial Rush was a migration by an estimated 30 prospectors to the Far North (PvP level 20) of Riltak in the Monster Islands between late-May and early-June. Glacial Crystals were placed there by TheSteelEagle in late May/early June and, when news reached the Carbon and Gold veins the following days, it triggered a stampede of would-be prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. The Great Glacial Rush has been impeded by high levels killing everything near PvP level 20. It has been immortalized by the dead corpses buried in the falling snow of the Far North of Riltak. To reach the Crystal fields most took the route through the bridge spanning across the river that seperated Riltak's Far North from the rest of Riltak. Here, the miners could either walk around the lake in the middle of the Far North or stick near "Pie's Frying Pan" to the Glacial veins. Each of them was recommended to bring at least level 80 weapons in order to prevent being slaughtered without even reaching the veins. In all, their equipment costed an astronomical amount, which brought most into dire financial straits. Together with high levels patrolling the entirety of Riltak's Far North, this meant that those who persisted may not even have arrived, period. Once there, they found few opportunities and many were killed in the hike back. Mining was challenging as the ore was distributed in just three piles and the hard rock made digging backbreaking work. As a result, some miners chose to buy and sell claims, building up huge investments and letting others do the work. To accommodate the prospectors, a collection of people known as the Far North Mining Corps. sprang up along the routes and at the routes' end various camps were founded behind the tower. From a population of just 5 when Glacial Crystals were first discovered, the Far North of Riltak came to house around 20 people (distributed among various servers) a mere week later. Built on a mutual agreement (that, to some, did not even exist) not to kill, in constant danger from those who didn't really care less about mercy, the Far North Mining Corps. suffered from injuries and death both whilst mining and on the way there. Despite this, the most successful prospectors- mainly those who had enough balls to carry an eggmental through a battlefield, with the notable exception of being a high level- gained extravagant amounts from mining and trading from the Far North. Those who were not high levels, however, suffered. The economy they had built was now trampled on by the incredible gains that mining Glacial Crystals could give, and many died mining their pitiful Gold and Carbon veins. From mid-June onward, the update newsletter that had encouraged so many idiots to travel to the Far North of Riltak lost interest in it. When more powerful PK'ers arrived in mid-June of 2016, many miners lost hope in the Glacial Crystals and returned instead to mining Gold and Carbon veins near the front of Riltak, leaving the Far North for the old gemfields, marking the end of the rush. The Glacial groups declined and the population of the Far North Mining Corps. fell away. Mining activity of the Glacial Crystals lasted until July when production peaked after PK'ers remembered the ore veins there existed. Since then the Far North has been mined on and off, and today the legacy draws more idiot miners to the region and contributes to its prosperity. Category:Blog posts